The Miracle of the Eucharist of Offida – watch Bob and Penny discuss while the Custodian opens the 14 locks!

The principal characters in this miraculous account are a newlywed couple, Ricciarella and Giacomo (James) Stasio, their mule, and a witch. Apparently, the newlyweds’ marriage was not made in heaven. They had nothing in common. Giacomo cared more for his mule than for his wife. There is no indication as to what was the cause of their problem, whether the wife was at fault or the husband. We do know that the wife, Ricciarella wanted a better life for them. She thought if they had a better sex life, they would be more happily married. She never considered getting even with her husband for his treatment of her, or of having extra marital affairs. She just wanted a better life with him.

To this end, she enlisted the services of a local sorceress, or witch. The witch had a powerful reputation for bringing the excitement back into marriages whose fire had gone out. The witch prescribed the following potion:

“Go to Communion, but don’t swallow the Host. Take it home, put it on the stove, and burn it. Take the ashes and throw them into his wine or his soup. Then let me know the effect. You’ll see that he will walk in heat like cats on a fence.”

This description of how her husband would react to the potion gave Ricciarella just the incentive she needed to justify committing this terrible act. She knew, because of her upbringing in the faith, that this was an act of Sacrilege. We have to wonder how she must have wrestled with her conscience before she made the decision to perform this horrible act.

Whatever justification finally gave her the courage, she set out for the church to take part in the Mass, and receive Our Dear Lord Jesus in Communion. Her heart pounded as she rehearsed the plot over and over again in her mind. At the proper time, Ricciarella, looking like a little saint, went up to the priest to receive Communion. After having received the Host, she turned away from the priest quickly, so that she could remove the Lord from her mouth. She made sure she was not caught in the act.

She left the Church and ran through the streets of Lanciano until she reached her home. Her hands shook violently. She started a fire under an earthen pot. Then, when it was very hot, she took the Host, and placed It in the pot. It began to smoke. She could not take her eyes away from the wickedness she was performing. The driving force that prevented her from stopping this madness was the change she fantasized would take place in her husband towards her. The outside of the Host turned into flesh, and began to bleed profusely. The center of the Host retained its original form. The blood gushed from the Host Turned Flesh.

She panicked. She didn’t know what to do. The blood covered the bottom of the pot, which was filling quickly. She took wax and dirt and threw them into the pot. She filled the pot with dirt, but the blood seeped through the dirt, rising to the top of the pot. She grabbed a huge linen table cloth and wrapped the pot in it. She didn’t know where to put it. She ran out to the stable, and dug a hole in the dung of the mule. She buried the table cloth and the pot with the Eucharist inside.

When her husband returned home that evening, he noticed that the mule was acting more stubborn than usual. The animal did not want to go into the stable. Giacomo was used to a certain amount of obstinacy from the mule, but this was the worst the animal had ever behaved. Giacomo tried pushing the mule, and then slapping him, all to no avail. Finally he got a whip and began beating the animal. The pain being more than the mule could endure, he reluctantly stumbled into the barn. The animal fell prostrate near where the dung was located, almost in a position of adoration.

Giacomo never needed an excuse to be unkind to Ricciarella, but if he had, the incident with the mule provided him with perfect justification. He blamed her for the behavior of the mule, accusing her of putting some spell on the stable. He gave her a few cracks with the same whip which he had used on his beast.

For Ricciarella, this was the beginning of living Hell. She felt great pangs of conscience for her sin. She came to realize more and more the seriousness and consequences of her actions. She was also beginning to wonder just how powerful the witch was, by the way her husband was treating her. The desired results of her sin never materialized. If anything, their relationship got weaker, while the feelings of guilt and remorse grew stronger by the passing day.

Ricciarella lived with this situation for seven years. The torture she inflicted on herself was maddening. The way that her husband continued to treat her, she believed was a punishment by God. She lost all hope. She could not accept that she could ever be forgiven by God. The pain she felt was mostly for having committed such an inexcusable crime against a God who had never hurt her. Tales of the Good God, that her mother had told her when she was a child, echoed in her mind. She yearned to confess her sin, and relieve the burden of her heart and soul. But she didn’t have the courage to accept the shame she would inflict on herself, she thought, by confessing to a priest.

Finally, when she could no longer live with herself, or the self-inflicted pain she had suffered for seven years, Ricciarella contacted the prior of the local Augustinian monastery in Lanciano. This friar was a native ofOFFIDA, which will become important as our story unfolds. Ricciarella confessed her grave sin to the priest. He accompanied her back to her home. They went into the stable, and dug through the dung which had accumulated over the seven years. When the friar pulled the table cloth out, and uncovered it, he found that the contents of the pot, the bleeding Flesh and the Host, had remained incorrupt over the years.

From Bob and Penny Lord’s Book – Miracles of the E
ucharist Book I

14 Keys are required to open the Doors to view the Miracle of the Eucharist of Offida.

Watch Bob and Penny Lord describe the events of the Miracle as the Priest uses the 14 keys to open the doors